CHESTERTOWN, MD —Culminating a series of free public events leading up to Earth Day, the Washington College Center for Environment and Society (CES) tonight, April 22, hosts a screening of the feature-length documentary In Organic We Trust, followed by a Skype discussion with its director, Kip Pastor. The screening is scheduled for 5 p.m. p.m. in Norman James Theater, first floor of William Smith Hall.

The film takes a critical look at the organic food movement and asks if organic food really is an effective way to save our environment and improve public health. In Organic We Trust has received numerous awards, including the Golden Palm Award in the Mexico International Film Festival, and the Audience Award in the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival.will host several guest lectures a documentary screening and a farmers’ market, all promoting sustainability and responsible use of the natural environment. 

The screening is the final event in a weeklong series that kicked off Monday, April 15 with a lecture by Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin titled “For the Love of God: Responding to the Call of the Earth.”  Rabbi Cardin is the Director of the Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network and the Chair of the Chesapeake Covenant Communion and author of several books, including: Tears of Sadness, Seeds of Hope: a Jewish spiritual companion to infertility and pregnancy loss, and A Tapestry of Jewish Time: a spiritual guide to the holidays and lifecycles. 

On Wednesday, April 17, Joan Maloof, founder and director of the Old-Growth Forest Network,lectured on “Talking about trees: How are we all connected and how do we respond?” Her work with the Old-Growth Forest Network, a nonprofit organization working to create a network of forests across the United States that will remain unlogged and open to the public, has brought her acclaim in the field of environmental 

Friday brought a midday festival and farmers’ market and an evening lecture. Area farmers and environmental educators joined student interest groups on the Hodson Green behind Hodson Hall Commons as part of a “Lights out Lunch” program created by the College’s Dining Services. The campus dining hall closed its doors to save energy and promoted sustainability by serving a locally sourced picnic lunch. 

That evening, April 19, urban forager and environmental advocate Nance Klehm spoke.  Klehm’s innovative approach to sustainability and food ways have received attention from many publications and media outlets. She lives and grows in the middle of Little Village, a densely populated neighborhood in the heart of Chicago. 

To learn more about the program sponsored by the Center for Environment & Society, visit http://www.washcoll.edu/centers/ces.